Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic tape and a method of manufacturing the same.
Discussion of the Background
Magnetic recording media include tape-shaped media and disk-shaped media. Magnetic recording media in the form of tapes, that is, magnetic tapes, are primarily employed in storage applications such as data; backup tapes. As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2012-38367, paragraphs 0035 and 0038, for example, a structure in which a nonmagnetic layer (referred to as a nonmagnetic underlayer in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No, 2012-38367) is provided between a nonmagnetic support and a magnetic layer (referred to hereinafter as a “multilayer structure”) is currently the mainstream layer structure in magnetic tapes. The content of the above publication is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The recording and/or reproduction of a signal on a magnetic tape is normally conducted by running the magnetic tape within a drive to bring the surface of the magnetic tape (magnetic layer surface) and a magnetic head into (sliding) contact. Reducing the size of the particles constituting the ferromagnetic powder contained in the magnetic layer permits noise reduction when reproducing a signal that has been recorded on a magnetic tape. As a result, the electromagnetic characteristics (signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) can be e this regard, from the perspective of reducing noise, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2012-38367, paragraph 0024, describes for example reducing the average plate diameter of ferromagnetic hexagonal ferrite powder (referred to in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2012-38367 as hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder) to less than or equal to 30 nm.